A friend of mine switched feed about the same time as I did a year ago. I have decent soft pellets most of the time but he has not seen pellets since the change. I haven't seen dark pellets since the change. He has had pastey poo since the change (about one year to date). I am not sure if it was coincidence or not but I did see a little difference in mine after the change also. His deer are doing well and act normal with normal weight changes from season to season. They still eat the same amount of pellets. I am just curious of the thought on this. We were using a local feed supplier to make our feed. We then changed to ADM 16% with nutraglo for winter and 18% (on bucks) for summer.

Are you feeding free choice hay? My vet told me this can be caused by too much protein and not enough hay stem. The scratchability of hay is what cleans up the rumen. I feed free choice alfalfa and make sure they eat the stem as well as the leaf. Good Luck